Whilst the NOTAM system can no doubt be improved, I think part of the problem lies in pilots leaving too little time in their pre-flight prep to have a thorough read of all the relevant info. Ironic really when you consider the number of postings from PPls relating to wind/fuel/whatever calculations to the nth degree.
We have one poster who was seemingly reading his NOTAMs in the a/c whilst flying (kind of defeats the point really), and plenty more who see it as lists of endless cr@p, rather than potentially important info.
I will do a couple of different search combinations before my flights to ensure that I haven't missed that one important NOTAM which might allow me to keep my licence, even if it means reading several pages of stuff that isn't relevant to my exact route, or which hasn't changed in weeks. I'm not perfect, and I don't want to come across as 'holier than thou', but I'm also not prepared to allow anyone to take the licence I worked hard for away due to a simple omission on my part.
On the subject of FIs and NOTAMs, I trained for a CPL at a well-respected school, and it would seem that checking NOTAMs, as well as all other elements of flight planning, were left to the students. No bad thing, but we did often receive info from ATC while under RIS about para-dropping activity which hadn't been NOTAMed (we always double-checked on return to make sure we hadn't cocked up) and the FI always asked us if it was on NOTAMs as he clearly hadn't checked for himself.